Dare Or Dare
by ScribblesTheVixen
Summary: Somehow, its always Snape who ends up in trouble. This time is no different.


**A/N:****This is for the International Wizarding School Championship but can be read by anyone!**

**School: Mahoutokoro**

**Year: 3**

**Main Prompt: [Platonic Pairing] Severus Snape and Any Marauder**

**Second Prompt: [Setting] Gingotts**

**Theme: Seeker**

**WC: 2,958 (Before A/N)**

**Disclaimer: I don't not own Harry Potter. All Rights go to J.K. Rowling.**

* * *

Christmas holidays were probably the only thing Severus Snape enjoyed at Hogwarts. It meant that he could spend as much time as he wanted in the Restricted section of the library or that he could enjoy the quietness of sitting in the Great Hall with almost nobody around to bug him. For him, that was was the greatest christmas present of all. Well, that and new books.

But, unfortunately, this year (and by Merlin, thank him that it be the final), the holidays were filled with anything but peace and quiet.

For you see, a stupid (according to Severus) blizzard had had the nerve to strike right as the Hogwarts Express was about to leave. So, of course, emergency evacuation was called upon and all the bloody, no good students were pushed back into Hogwarts to wait it out.

There went his perfect morning.

Luckily, though, he'd managed to escape to a small corner that no one had decided to claim. So with a book shoved into his lap, and a disgusting mug of hot chocolate beside him, Severus decided that his predicament may not be too bad.

"Hey, Snivellus!"

That is, until that.

"Snivellus!" The voice rose higher, grabbing the attention of some of the other students. He, on the other hand, managed to ignore it.

"SNIVELLUS!"

Oh, Merlin's beard.

Multiple loud footsteps could suddenly be heard and he was a hundred percent sure they were headed in his direction.

On instinct, he shrunk into his seat, as far as he could without falling. His hands reached for his wands, which was hidden deep in one of his cloak pockets with an extension charm so it couldn't be stolen.

"Snivellus, you rat, are you deaf?"

Meekly, Severus peeked through his long hair and saw that James Potter was staring down at him with a frown that looked like it was itching to turn into a smirk.

On his right was Sirius, looking gleefully as ever, and Remus with Peter huddled behind him. Behind them were a few other students that seemed to be from all the Houses except Slytherin.

Figures.

But the one thing, or person, that stood out in the crowd, was Lily Evans. Her long red hair was pulled back into a loose braid that trailed down her right shoulder. She wore a small sweater with the Hogwarts crest on it, a black skirt, tights, and shoes. To him, she looked as beautiful as always.

Of course, though, that beauty that made his heart beat wildly ended up making it crack as his gaze trailed down and landed on her hand.

Or, should he say, their hands.

Her fingers was delicately wrapped around James' and she seemed quite okay with that fact even though Severus clearly wasn't.

At the beginning of the year, James and Lily had been appointed as Head Boy and Girl (it still made Severus' blood boil to no end) and, somehow, they'd managed to get much closer than they'd been before.

"James, I told you he doesn't like that name."

"Oh, come on. This is our last year at Hogwarts, Lil. That name has been there since year one and I think it's nice to remember the old times." he jousted.

Lily just rolled her eyes but allowed a small smile.

It made him want to barf.

"Anyways, Snivellus, we decide that, to pass the time, we'd play Dare or Dare. Lily, here, wanted you to join in since you looked lonely with just that dumb old book of yours."

"James! I didn't say that." Lily scolded. It went ignored.

"So, do you, erm, wanna join in or whatever?" As soon as the question was off his lips, he unraveled his fingers from Lily's and stuck both his hands in his pocket before looking down, embarrassed about even asking.

Severus, meanwhile, looked stunned. James, the guy who bullied him whenever he got the chance, was asking him to play Dare or Dare with them? Was this even real.

Not a chance.

In the end, he'd probably end up an even bigger laughing stock than he was now. There was no way he would let that happen. Not anymore.

"No thanks."

He didn't wait for a reply or something to signal they'd left. Instead, he just buried his head back in his book and continued on his way to find where he'd left off.

Unfortunately, he didn't get far.

A loud thud erupted from the other side of the table, startling him into looking up. Sitting across from his was now James with his hands crossed over his chest and a determined look in his eyes.

"Too bad."

"W-what?! Why do you even care?"

"I don't."

As if that was the end of the conversation, which it sounded like, everyone sat down around them, finding small spots and squeezing into them like their life depended on it.

"'K, now that we're all here, let me explain the rules." Sirius, grin still present, chirped up. "First of all, this is not regular Dare or Dare, so if you want out, get out."

This was his chance. As quietly as possible, Severus gathered his mug of hot chocolate, closed his book and preceded to slip his legs out from underneath the table before crawl-

"Not you, Snape!"

Dammit.

"Now, all these dares were pre-planned because we were gonna do 'em at the end of the year so we could leave with a bang. But since we're all boring our butts off, we decided to do 'em now." The fact the his grin had somehow become wider and more mischievous was making Severus' nerves stand on edge.

"So, here's how it works. The dares work in pairs. That means we pick two people to compete against each other to see who finishes their dare first. Who ever wins, moves on to compete in the next round. The final round will consist of the top two players who will go head to head with the final dare."

He then turned to Lily. "Lily, sweetheart, pull out the bag."

Severus glanced over at everyone there. There faces were lit up with excitement (minus Remus) and horror as they watched Lily pull out a bag and handed it to Sirius.

"Let the games begin."

...

Severus wanted to run. He wanted to run into the Slytherin common room and hide under his bed with his book and maybe the hot chocolate.

The first few rounds had already happened, leaving just four more students left including him.

Those rounds had been relatively easy with them ranging from throwing firecrackers into the library (thank Merlin he hadn't been in picked for that) to running through Diagon Alley with nothing but a shirt on (he hadn't done that one either).

Now, things got harder. At least, according to Sirius.

This next round, as per being pulled out of the bag, would be him against James.

Figures.

Pulling out the paper, Sirius read it closely before his face lit up like a christmas tree and he read it aloud.

"Dare: Steal from Gringotts."

"What?!" Severus blurted out before he could stop himself. "How are we supposed to do that?"

"With the potions you stole from from round four of course. Remember? You raided the potions room supply closet. And if I remember correctly, you grabbed some polyjuice potion, yeah?"

Oh, yeah. He did.

Dammit.

"And before you ask how you're gonna turn into a goblin, let me explain. A few months back, during summer break, me and James were in Diagon Alley and saw a goblin walking down to Gringotts. James used...this spell and plucked a hair out without it noticin'. Pretty smart, eh?"

He didn't reply.

Sirius then reached under the table to where they'd stashed the stuff they'd collected and came back out with a small vial of polyjuice. Next, James reached inside his robe pocket and pulled out the hair and dropped it in. After shaking the vile a bit, Sirius handed it to James, who took a swig, before holding it out to Severus who took it with shaky hands, not yet ready to down its contents.

"Now, as the dare said, you'll be trying to steal from Gringotts. The vault you'll try to be stealing from is my families. Over the summer, I made copies of the key to it so we could get in. As for the thing your trying to steal, it'll be the whatever you want since I could care less."

Severus looked at him oddly. Why didn't he care? Several theories suddenly floated around his mind. Ones like maybe he wanted to see what they'd bring back or something that had do with his family.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Get going!"

With that, James shot one glance his way before he disappeared. Not wasting another second either, he downed the vile and disapperated himself.

His arrival at the front of Gringotts was instantaneous.

The giant building stood high and proud in all its glory. Witches and wizards walked in and out like mobs. They seemed oblivious to everything around them, though.

"You ready?"

Startled, Severus snapped his head to the side and saw James standing next to. For a second, it was hard to tell because he wasn't James anymore but the voice gave it away.

He looked down at his own hands and saw that they no longer were his but a goblin's. He noticed that he was shorter too.

He glanced over at James again. There was a strong determination in his eyes and a smirk on his face, as if he was confident that he would win with no problems.

It made Severus angry. Well, angrier than it normally did. James had always made fun of him and doubted his abilities. It made his blood boil that he couldn't be acknowledged as just as good as he was.

He looked back at Gringotts, his own determination lighting up his eyes.

He wouldn't let James win. He couldn't. No matter what, this was his.

So, with a firm nod, he walked towards the steps of Gringotts and pulled open the doors to enter. He could sense James behind him, but as soon as he turned around, he was gone.

...

Wandering through the halls of Gringotts without being noticed wasn't easy. For about five times, other goblins had come up to him, handed him papers, and then left to go do something else. Of course, each time, he'd just stashed the papers into some random drawer that happened to be close by.

And so far, after losing James at the entrance, Severus hadn't seen him at all. That unnerves him to no end.

Sighing, he trudged forward, trying to avoid any contact at all costs. He weaved his way around the crowds, trying to keep an eye out for James and from not being dragged into anything.

His luck wasn't very good.

A hand suddenly latched onto his shoulder and yanked him around.

"What are you doing?" the goblin in front of him spat.

"M-Me?"

"Yes, you idiot, you're supposed to be at counter nine."

"I-I am?" he stuttered. Never in his life had Severus sweated so much.

Goblins were scary creatures who'd kill you if given the chance. That's how they were in his eyes, anyways.

With a final snarl in his face, the goblin holding him started to drag him off to what he assumed what counter nine. After dumping him there with a threatening glance, it left him alone.

Scrambling to his feet, he made to quickly leave but the sound of a voice made him halt in his tracks.

"Just where do you think you're going?!"

Turning around as slowly as he could, he came face to face with a tall women who had curly black hair and piercing eyes. She was dressed in a black dress with fur that draped from her shoulders to her waist. A black hat sat elegantly a top her head and the high heels she had on made her look even taller.

"I've got business to attend to and I won't have you ruining it all because your a cowardly goblin."

Stunned, Severus fumbled for a reply before things got out of hand.

"S-sorry, ma'am."

"As you should be. Now then, I need to make a withdrawal from my vault."

Sweating now more than ever, he was just about ready to collapse.

He glanced around at all the other goblins handling people around him with the hopes of learning something useful. One particular conversation caught his ear and he strained to hear it.

"Name...Number...Key...Follow me..."

Of course!

"Name?" he asked, recalling the steps to enter a vault.

"Black."

His breathing hitched.

Black? As in related to Sirius Black?

"Why does that even matter."

Realizing that he'd asked it aloud, he mentally slapped himself before scrambling to cover up his mistake.

"J-just heard of him, is all."

"An idiot. That's what he is. An idiot of a son."

For some reason, Severus couldn't bring himself to agree. Looking at the women in front of him, Sirius was a far better person than she was... in some aspects.

Dragging himself from his thoughts, he proceed to follow the steps.

"Vault number?"

"279."

"Key?"

The lady slipped a key from her hand and onto the counter. Taking it, as he'd seen the other goblin do, he hopped off the counter and beckoned for her to follow.

He'd seen the other goblin go this way and guessed this was the way into the vaults which explained why there were two goblins standing in front of it with set expressions.

As soon as they entered the dark hall, they walked a little before arriving at what looked to be railroad tracks. On top of them sat a cart which he also guessed was to help them travel through.

Stepping on, he waited for to sit before he walked over to the lever that looked to operate the cart. Pulling it, the cart began to move on its own, passing vaults so quickly that it made him panic.

He tried to catch the numbers as fast as he could before the were gone.

In a matter of minutes, though, they were past the hundreds and in the two hundreds.

"210...221...239...255...264...278..." he muttered.

As he passed that last one, though, something in his mind clicked and he immediately pulled on the lever to halt the cart. But he pulled it so fast that they were yanked forwards by the force and lost their balance.

shrieked horribly but Severus barely paid attention as he tried to right himself.

And for a brief second, he was sure he caught sight of another goblin on the cart with them.

But just as it had appeared quickly, it was gone.

"Sorry about that," he mumbled. "I-I'm, uh, new."

"Well, they should throw you out, you useless toad!"

Ignoring the comment, he stepped out of the cart and walked up nervously to the vault door.

He didn't know how this part worked and there wasn't anyone around to help him this time.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Place the damn key in the wall already!"

In the wall?

He gulped nervously. There weren't really any other options at this point. Might as well try what she said.

Shakingly, he lifted up the key and pushed the head of it directly into the wall.

Around it, a whole started to form, letting the key slip into it and allowing strange markings to light up as the wall pulled back to reveal a stunning room of gold, gems and much more.

It was a jackpot.

stepped briskly into the room, pushing him aside in the process, and gathered up a handful of coins before dumping them into her purse.

He watched for a second before realizing that he needed to grab something- anything- in order to claim victory over the dare.

Stealthily, he slid over to the wall on the far left side which had rubies and diamonds stacked against it. He reached in attempt to grab one but couldn't because of the startled shriek that came.

Whipping his head around, he saw James standing there with his wand pointed out at the back of .

As if feeling his gaze, James turned to him and gave a victorious smirk.

"Relax, I just stunned her."

"H-how..."

"I followed you, obviously. I figured that something would happen worth waiting for and it did. Pretty easy, huh?"

Severus remained speechless.

James then moved forwards and towards the gold now lay still on. Stretching his hand, he made to grab some but was stopped in his tracks as Severus, on pure adrenaline, whipped out his wand and fired a freezing spell he'd learned from his book.

"Oh no, you don't."

Watching James for another moment or two to make sure the spell helt, Severus walked over to where he was and picked up a few of the gold coins.

He eyed them boredly, as if they were nothing but rocks but there was still a sparkle of excitement in his eyes. Turning around to face James' frozen face. He mirrored the victorious smirk still on his face before uttering two words that filled him with a unquenchable joy.

"I win."


End file.
